Underground Journal

How Project Natal Works

At the E3 video game expo or conference, Microsoft dropped a bomb on the video game industry by announcing their new peripheral, code named Project Natal, for the Xbox 360.  Project Natal will definitely revolutionize the video game industry because it will allow anyone to control video games with their entire body movements.  Microsoft takes the popularity and possibilities of the Nintendo Wii, and goes a step further with it by allowing your entire body to control the game, instead of just a controller or two that senses hand movements.  Many people at E3, and across the internet, were excited about the possibilities this may bring to the video gaming world.

How does Project Natal work?

Project Natal is two cameras that are combined in a unit that you will place near or above your television.  The two cameras are definitely different in their functions, but when combined can sense your movements throughout the entire body.  The first camera is a regular RGB camera, pretty much similar to a webcam or a regular consumer video camera.  This camera will be able to take scans of you, your body, for facial recognition, and possibly even scanning your items into games to personalize them, and project your image on screen.

The second camera is an infrared camera which can pick you out specifically out of the room, and even differentiate between you and your friends or family who may also be in the room.  It can also judge your distance, and so when you move your hands and feet around, the infrared camera can definitely sense that.

Then, special software takes the two images, one from the RGB camera and one from the infrared camera, and combines them and analyzes them extremely quickly, and translates what they see into commands for the video games.  Although we can’t buy Project Natal yet, it will definitely be exciting to see what possibilities come out of a video gaming accessory like this.

Brought to you by ProjectNatalGames.org.

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